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Lyon-based Calixar SAS has completed an initial funding round
in which it raised €875,000 from private investors and business angels.

The funds will enable Calixar to develop its international
operations for membrane protein services and move its research
programs forward. It also means the company will be able to offer
its clients more targeted services and give a broader client base
easy access to its unique technology. The technology has already
been validated on a score of targets (including GPCR receptors,
ionic channels, transporters and viral proteins).

The investors that took part in this financing were Siparex, Veymont
Participations, INPG Entreprise SA, and regional business angels
from the Health-Angels Rhone-Alpes, Savoie Angels and Grenoble
Angels networks.

The company possesses an exclusive worldwide license for the
exploitation of two patents held by the French National Scientific
Research Centre (CNRS) and the University of Lyon. These relate to
generic membrane protein extraction and crystallization processes
utilizing original non-denaturing reagents. The aim is to make
targets more immutable so the process of discovering new drugs and
vaccines is rendered more reliable and more efficient.

Knowing how to produce, isolate and purify therapeutic or vaccine
targets correctly is a major challenge for the pharmaceutical
industry. Calixar’s unique approach makes it possible to preserve
the native state of membrane proteins, which are involved in
numerous pathologies and currently account for over 70 per cent of
therapeutic targets.

“We are delighted to be able to share
our vision and our development with a highly motivated group of
investors, who recognized the innovative aspect of our approach,”
explained the chairman and co-founder of Calixar, Emmanuel Dejean.
“We plan to recruit 30 people between now and 2016 and expect to be
generating annual revenues of EUR 4.5 million by then, solely from
our fee-for-service activities.”

“We were attracted by the
potential of Calixar’s technology and the know-how of its staff,
which should enable them to surmount a major technological barrier
facing research laboratories and ultimately develop more efficacious
therapies,” said Fabrice Paublant, president of Health Angels Rhone-Alpes.
“Calixar recently signed several research agreements in Europe and
the United States, and the funds it has now raised will enable it to
expand its international activities.”